


Friday Spin Class

by TheRookieKing412



Category: Princess Tutu
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-10
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:15:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 12,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23098453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRookieKing412/pseuds/TheRookieKing412
Summary: A series of essays analyzing the characters and themes of Princess Tutu. I do stress that this is non-fiction and in no way like my other stories on this site, however I do encourage you to take a look, I can't imagine this will get many views, but I figured this would be a good place to host them outside of Tumblr. The first essay is a look and Drosselmeyer and the Bookmen and what their relationship to one another are.The project was made first and foremostly to dig deep into the side characters, however after a while I just decided to write about whoever I wanted to, but I still will write something for all the side characters... well, the important ones. Not Juan the Chihuahua.I post on Fridays, when I can.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 19





	1. Drosselmeyer and the Bookmen

Welcome to the first essay of hopefully many. No, this is unfortunately not about any of the side characters, or at least not the individual essays I promised.

No. 

This is more of a half baked theory based on analyzing four episodes of Princess Tutu - and the fact that I’ve watched it five times, possibly more - about Drosselmeyer and the Bookmen. 

The theory being this: the Bookmen did not band together to stop the formidable Drosselmeyer from writing his tragedies, but that they assigned him his stories. 

Yes, the Bookmen are Drosselmeyer’s bosses. 

Okay just listen. 

In episode one, the Narrator describes the last few pages of the Prince and the Raven, “Once upon a time, there was a man who died. The man’s work was the writing and telling of stories, but he could not defy death. The last story he was working on was about a brave and handsome prince who vanquishes a crafty raven. But now, it seems their battle will go on for eternity” (season one, episode 1). Drosselmeyer died before he finished the story, and I’m not sure he planned on ever finishing the story based on this line: “"this is great!“ said the old man who was supposed to have died” (s1e1). 

Drosselmeyer getting his hands chopping off wasn’t because the Bookmen believed his powers were getting out of hand, but because he wasn’t doing his job. 

The Bookmen weren’t against Drosselmeyer, in fact they were in charge of stories, Drosselmeyer was just supposed to write them. 

In episode four, Giselle, the Narrator says this: “The man charged with spinning this tale” (s1e4). This line specifically is what makes me think that the relationship the Bookmen and Drosselmeyer had was more than just bitter enemies. 

“ And so the love remains forever sorrowful as the story lives on. The tale, no longer being spun searches for a conclusion…” (The Narrator). 

“A story’s birth is a sudden event. The start, a happy accident. The end, the fate for which it’s meant. A story that never ends is a cruel thing.” (Edel, s1e2). 

This is Drosselmeyer’s great tragedy, what he truly wants, a story that never ends, where he can just sit back and watch the events unfold. 

Story’s in this land are an accident, they are not started with intent or purpose, the Story Spinner’s job is to give those stories an end, to control and bend reality to a conclusion, whether happy or not. The Bookmen don’t care, what matters is that the people who are pulled into the story are eventually let go. Giselle can die, she can kill herself, it doesn’t matter, but the story needs to end. 

In fact, I’m willing to bet that Drosselmeyer doesn’t care for writing and the machine he writes in the end isn’t so that he can have control over the stories, but simply to record the story’s events. The machine isn’t giving him control over the story, it’s a scribe. 

The characters are free to do whatever they want, and they do. 

There are countless times where the characters surprise Drosselmeyer, shock him, or even go against what he wants to happen in the story.

Drosselmeyer abandons the stories he’s been given to end in favor of watching real people being trapped inside of a story for the rest of their lives, and this is why his hands were cut off. 

Drosselmeyer’s a punk.

Anyway. 

I’m not sure why the Bookmen try to cut off Fakir’s hands unless they think he’s going to be as lazy as his grandfather. But when I get there I’ll add on to this theory. 

Again, I apologize for this not being about a side character as promised, but hopefully this with appease everyone until I can finish the series. 

(A friend suggested that the goals of the Bookmen have altered over the past hundred years and also that they have lost their minds since they too are trapped in a never ending story as for reason as to why they tried to chop of Fakir’s hands).


	2. Ant-eaterinna, Ebine, and Giselle

Alright another one: Anteater-ernia, Ebine and Gisele, because I still haven’t finished the series. 

I decided to do these three together because they all have so little screen time and a lot of it, I don’t think, is even them. Let me explain. 

Anteater-erina, Ebine and Gisele are the first side characters we get a glimpse of outside the regular cast, heart-shard of the week, and for the most part they’re smooshed into that five minute climax where they’re upset because they have a piece of Mytho’s heartshard and Tutu asks them to dance with her. Then their part is over. 

First: Anteater-erina. This woman is a go-getter, she is not afraid of you or whoever you are Miss-I’m-in-the-special-class and she will take your man. She has so much confidence for a beady-eyed seven foot mammal, she is truly a being to admire. That being said, a lot of her screen time is compromised. By who? You may wonder, but worry not, you will not have to worry for long because I will tell you: Mytho. 

I have a theory. We only get to see Mytho’s full character - his full personality, his heart and emotions - in just a few scenes in the climax of the show, and in those scenes he’s trying to fight a monsterous raven, not really a good time to give the viewers a character analysis. But there’s something we missed, something that has been there the whole time: his heart shards. A very western idea - maybe eastern too, I have studied up too much on eastern cultures but that’s the American school system to blame - is that a person’s personality, their emotions, the core of who they are is in their heart. Which is why heartless Mytho is the way he is, the core of what makes him him is gone, shattered out over the land. 

Lucky for us, we get to see those silvers of personality. 

Anteater-erina, back to this bitch, has the heart shard of bitter disappointment, but, when told that he could return to the Prince he says “I’m so glad” (season 1, episode 2). The preamble to that is when he asks if he has to wander again. These emotions aren’t bitter, disappointed, or a bitter disappointment. First, he’s afraid, he found someone who needed him, someone who was disappointed that he could go to, and now that person doesn’t need him, and second, he’s glad, happy, joyous even, to go back to where he belongs. This heart shard even tells Anteater-erina that it’s alright to cry, to vent about her problems rather than bottle it up, almost as if to comfort her.

And in the end, after the heartshard is gone and stops affecting her, her dancing is less angry - one could even say less bitter - and she’s determined to be her own dancer, her voice is sweeter and happier, and you can tell that she has dealt with her heart ache. 

Next up is Ebine, my dear sweet Ebine.

She is sweet, a chatterbox, and so excited when Mytho and Ahiru walk in - just think about how long it’s been since she’s had a customer! Is she upset or angry? No! She’s excited that they’re there and even wants to treat them to a (cold) meal! - and she definitely believes “the customer is always right” is true. I think Omoto was her teacher and they fell in love with each other and decided to open a restaurant together. Most importantly however, is that her loneliness turns into strength. She learns that she lost the one she loved, but he is still there with her, through the food they made together and the restaurant they built. 

This is her heart shard, loneliness. He doesn’t say much, he does say “After all, isn’t happiness being able to eat lots of delicious food?” (s1e3) which is a big mood and he’s definitely a sad eater. He tells Tutu that he is the feeling of loneliness, and when given the chance to go back to Mytho, he goes telling Ebine “I have to go” (s1e3). I can’t glean much from this, unlike Anteater-erina, Ebine seems as if she hasn’t let the negatives of the heart shard seep in. Anteater-erina is filled with bitterness and anger and she lets it fuel her actions, and it isn’t until the end that we see a kind and sweet girl willing to take on the world. However, with Ebine we see the opposite, even through her loneliness she still says “Who will taste better? You, or you?” (s1e3) with a smile on her face. Yes, Ebine misses her husband, but she still remembers him with fondness and keeps his traditions alive, she’s still excitable, a hostess, and willing to feed lost kids just out of the goodness of her heart. The only part of her that she let’s the heart shard control is just her fear of being alone and refusing to let him go. 

Last but not least, Gisele, who may or may not really be Gisele. 

Okay hear me out, during the dance battle between Gisele and Rue, and then the pas de deux between Gisele and Princess Tutu, the Wili Maidens don’t have faces, they’re blank, it’s kind of creepy, but I get it. They’re dead, maybe the animators didn’t feel like it, but when the heart shard leaves Gisele, her face goes blank as well. 

Now, if you know the story of Gisele, you will know that all of the Wili Maidens gave into sorrow and died or committed suicde due to lost or unrequited love. Any of the Wili Maidens could have attracted the heart shard, and the fact that it’s Rue who calls her Gisele, and not herself, tells me this: we don’t know who that is. It could be anyone, in fact, I just thought it was the Queen of the Wili Maidens, and in the end, it doesn’t matter who she is because her face disappears, and why does her face disappear? Because it’s not her face. 

Well it’s certainly not Mytho’s face, I hear you say, and no it’s not, but his heart shard did give her that face. 

The heartshard of sorrow is the first heartshard that we hear nothing from, but that’s not true. Not true at all, because everything Gisele says is what the heartshard is saying. 

“If you have the same fate as I, why does sadness not creep into your dancing?” (s1e3). Now, if you read last week’s Spin Class, you’ll know what I think her fate is: that her story will never be finished. This statement can very well be double-sided, she’s talking with Princess Tutu, a character doomed to never be with the one she loves, but let me ask you: how does Gisele know that? Now let me ask you this: Who knows Princess Tutu? Prince Siegfried. And what was the fate of his story? That it was never to be finished. So, now we put all the pieces together. 

Unlike Anteater-erina and Ebine, Gisele is a ghost, she doesn’t have the same human qualities that Anteater-erina and Ebine have, leading me to believe that every action she takes, and every word out of her mouth is not of her own, but of Mytho and the heart shard of Sorrow. He asks Princess Tutu this question because he has been stuck in a story for god knows how long and yet here she is, happy and helping others. 

Before Princess Tutu takes back the heart shard, Gisele is on the ground and mimes “love”, I don’t think this is her saying that she loved the man she died for, but Mytho saying that he loves Tutu, that he remembers her and the love he had for her. Mytho, above all else is a loving person, his heart is so big and wide, and even a heart shard like sorrow is still able to show how much love he has inside there. 

In the end, we haven’t met all of Mytho’s heart shards, and there are still more to come, and more side characters, I truly think that we can understand Mytho’s complex character so long as we take a closer look at what those heart shards do and say. 

And hopefully I’ll finish the series soon so I can get onto the bigger players like Pique and Lillie and my boy Femio. Princess Tutu is just too much to handle, y’all, they put so much detail in my head’s about to explode.


	3. Paulamoni

Ah, the star of the show, the leading lady, the woman of our dreams, her dark hair and pretty eyes, our beautiful Sleeping Beauty, Paulamoni.

Before we get started, just a couple things, the first couple reactions I had to her was how much she looked like Rue, her brown semi curly hair, and her colored eyes - my first thought being lol she’s Rue and Fakir’s mom, but we’ll get to that later - the outfit and hairstyle she wears is specifically designed after Audrey Hepburn in her debut film Roman Holiday (1953).

Which isn’t too important, just something I noticed, I think it does help the time period I’ve set the story in, given it’s the 80’s and not the 50’s, but it’s probably easier to pass off being dressed thirty years off rather than 60.

That is as far as observations go, so onto the essay.

Something I find interesting in the show is the use of make-up - specifically lipstick - on their female characters. Princess Kreahe, Raetzel, Paulamoni, Edel, and Miss. Goatette all wear lipstick. This could be nothing, but I say it’s not, so it is.

Paulamoni’s character arc is rather simple and is solved after she and her husband show some good communication skills (relationship advice 101). Every since she was a child, she dreamed of playing Aurora in Sleeping Beauty, watching a performance herself as a young girl. The dancer, capable of dreaming after she has awoken, is something Paulamoni can’t do.

Paulamoni can’t squeeze herself into a role that wasn’t hers to begin with.

Which is, of course, one of the overarching themes of Princess Tutu itself. No one can force you into a role that was never yours to begin with, and sometimes when you’re forced into that role, either by your family, your friends, or even yourself, you have to break free, you have to live the role that was made for you, not the one made for someone else.

Fakir is forced to be a knight by his ancestor, Rue is forced into the role of a villain by the monster raven. The role Mytho plays is that of a heartless Prince, a role he placed himself in to save everyone, and Ahiru steps into the role of Princess Tutu because she wants to see Mytho smile.

In the end, these characters have stepped out of that forced role, and into the one that is made for them.

But… that is a tangent, back to her lipstick.

Very simply said, I think the women of this show wear lipstick for a reason, for Princess Kreahe, Edel, and Paulomine, they’re trying to be someone they’re not.

Paulomine is trying to be the sleeping beauty she saw as a child, but she can’t, she just can’t.

Now, it could be she just likes wearing lipstick, and most of the adult female characters choose to wear lipstick - Ebine is the only one I can think of who doesn’t - but I’m an English Teacher at heart, and those blue curtains mean he was sad, damnit.

So then why isn’t Princess Tutu wearing lipstick?

That’s a great question and I’m glad I asked.

So let’s compare our leading ladies: Princess Kreahe to Princess Tutu. Rue is definitely not Kraehe, the Raven’s blood has poisoned her, and while that has affected her personality, think of how Rue acts in the first six episodes, before she becomes Kreahe. Rue is a sweet girl, a little prideful, but she’s not an antagonist, the biggest threat she holds is that Mytho loves her over Ahiru.

Kraehe on the other hand is an antagonist, she steals hearts shards and fights Tutu and Fakir when she can, she kidnaps Mytho and tries to steal two hearts (the hearts of Femio and Autor), tries to force Mytho to marry (which, like, same), and is definitely not the same girl we saw in the beginning. This is not to say Rue and Kreahe are two separate characters, but when Rue steps into the shoes of Kraehe, they’re very different characters, with the same motivation, but different ways of acting.

Princess Tutu is sweet and kind, the major difference between her and Ahiru is just how good at ballet she is, how well she can handle situations, and her level of intelligence. Which isn’t a personality divergence, but an age difference, there’s no reason to believe that Ahiru can’t learn that all herself, however Princess Tutu is still not her. The role is easier for her to step into, but Paulamoni stands closer to Rue and Kreahe on the scale.

Paulamoni is her own person, and when trying on the role of someone else, she fails.

But, given this town, it’s history, and the fact that it is no longer just a regular town, but a town where stories and reality intermingle, it’s not so far off to say that she stepped into the wrong story, which is why Paulo is going to write her a ballet that is meant for her, a story that is made just for her.

I hope you know what I’m hinting out, but that will be in the next essay ;)


	4. Paulo :)

Alright let’s get into it. 

Fair warning, this is a theory, a very far-fetched theory but one I kind of enjoy. In my last Friday Spin Class, I made a slight mention to Paulo and I am going to be writing an essay about him, however not the typical character analysis I have been promising, oh no. This is a theory I have cooked up about Paulo, Drosselmeyer, Fakir and Rue, buckle your seat belts, you ready?

Paulo is Fakir’s uncle.

Crazy, right? Well, not to crazy, I’ve scraped together some evidence that will hopefully bring some of you into my favor, or it may just not be strong enough proof for some of you, but here we go! 

First, let’s talk about the Drosselmeyer family tree, specifically the one Autor made. 

There are three rules he has made up for his tree, first: that descendants are connected through a line, if anyone doesn’t have children, the spot under their name is left bare, and if someone had a child, but they died or disappeared, they are crossed off with an X. 

I will not acknowledge the dotted lines because those are either uncertainties or Autor’s personally theories about who some of the most recent generation are and how he’s connected. 

Drosselmeyer is at the top, he has three children - the middle children having no children themselves - we’ll just follow the line of the youngest, since that’s Fakir’s line. This child had two themselves, the eldest had two children, the eldest had two children, Fakir’s aunt/uncle and then his father (and as we all know, Rue was taken by the crows).

Now all this is to show that Fakir does have an uncle/aunt, so this isn’t entirely out of nowhere, ‘kay.

I’m not sure why Autor has Rue listed first before Fakir, but that might have just been a mistake. 

That does lead to my next bit of evidence - why Fakir went to Charon, the family friend, instead of his next closest relative. 

Out of all the characters on Princess Tutu, Paulo is the only one that is apart of a traveling troupe, meaning he can’t stay in one place to give a child a good home. 

It’s possible that Paulo wasn’t even there when any of this happened, when Fakir was born, when Rue was, and when she was taken, when their parents died, that he was away with his troupe writing ballets, and given that Kinkan is kind of trapped, it wouldn’t be easy to communicate with the outside world, no matter how advanced or modern the world is. 

This is the first time Paulo has come back to his hometown. 

Also why come to Kinkan? How would he have found out about it? 

It’s a small, strange little town, and obviously people can walk in and find it, “Was mom always an India Rhinoceros?” but what business does this bring? If you’re going to Germany with your ballet troupe, you’re going to Berlin, not some backwater town. 

And yes, Kinkan does have a ballet academy that seems rather prestigious, so maybe in the ballet world there’s Kinkan is a more respectable town. But I doubt it. 

Next, I want to talk about his face. 

  


Like full offence, but that’s the exact same nose. 

And my friend made the excellent point that that’s just the stereotype they have for white men in Japan. 

(Not to mention their eyes; they’re both this weird bubble eye shape.)

This guy’s nose is slimmer than both Paulo’s and Drosselmeyer’s, and it’s hard to tell here, but it’s not the straight nose both Paulo and Drosselmeyer sport. 

And Charon’s nose is perfect, look at it, ugh. I love big noses. 

Three of these noses are different noses, and two are the same. 

Maybe a coincidence, I don’t know, I mean Fakir has a regular anime nose, but Drosselmeyer telling Fakir that he looks like a younger version of Drosselmeyer sounds like a bold faced lie when I see Paulo and Drosselmeyer next to each other. 

I also realize that Paulo would be fourth generation, so unless every single kid got that nose (except Fakir) it might not be the strong connection I think it is. 

Now, let’s move on to what I think is the main event.

Paulo realizes his wife is upset, and he knows how to comfort her. 

In my previous essay, I made it known that Paulamoni is stepping into the wrong role. 

And what, pray tell is Paulo’s dream? 

“Sure, there are some dreams that can’t come true, but there is no rule that says you can have one dream. My dream is this: to enthrall people all over the world with your dancing. And to do that, I even thought up the perfect program for you.”

Not saying he’s a story spinner… but your boy’s a story spinner.

Okay, so let’s consider this logically, in my very first essay, I stated that the story spinners don’t start stories themselves, but stories happen, and it’s their job to finish them, the start of a story is a happy accident. 

Paulamoni’s perfect program has already started, this is the beginning of her story, her program, she has found her role and now Paulo with finish it for her, create for her a ballet and let her be the main character. 

So, the way, let’s say a novel, and a ballet are written are very different, a novel contains more words and uses those only to captivate an audience, while a program would have music, and stage directions, steps to take, etc. 

But, both are a story, but written and ended by someone. 

Whatever her program is, it will still be a story, just like the Prince and the Raven is a story, just like what Fakir writes for Ahiru is a story. 

Paulo is a story spinner, and Fakir has an uncle, out of both of them, Paulo looks a lot more like Drosselmeyer than Fakir ever has (thank you, Fakir’s mom), so whether Paulo is related to Fakir or not, if he is but from a different one of Drosselmeyer’s kids, or if he’s just his own story spinner, unrelated to all of this, these are the facts, presented to us by the show, I don’t think it’s so far fetched to string it all together. 

(Also, Paulo and Paulamoni definitely don’t want kids, and that’s fine, it’s also probably why they didn’t fight for custody over Fakir.)

So… ta-da.

Don’t kill me.


	5. Pique and Lillie

Good morning and welcome to Friday Spin Class: Saturday morning edition. 

So, just a quick disclaimer… I don’t like Pique and Lillie, I find their characters to be underdeveloped and two dimensional, and I think you can see that in my fanfictions because I don’t really include them in the story as much as I could (but they’re still there!) 

That being said, Princess Tutu is a short show, only two seasons with thirteen episodes each, you have four main characters that require a lot of attention and all develop in some way shape or form. That doesn’t give much room for minor characters to be anything more than that. 

Minor characters. 

Upon my rewatch, as I tried to take notes for the two girls, trying to separate their personalities, disentangle what they say, how they appear to write a good analysis since this is the one I think most people are excited for, I found something else. 

Like everyone in the show, every person is being controlled by the story, and the whole goal of Fakir, Ahiru, Mytho, and Rue is to break free of their fates and defy the story (sidenote: Kreahe does not want change, but I do think Rue does) so today’s Friday Spin Class are about the characters that don’t defy their fate and their role in the story. 

Pique and Lillie are plot devices. 

Only there to guide Ahiru on her journey, either to disenhearten her, give her exposition (i.e. the Fire Festival, Drosselmeyer, and reminding her that the Wonderful Senior Mytho already has Rue) and keep her in the action. 

The one episode they’re not inseparable (well…) is Coppelia (s2e2). 

This is the first episode where Raven!Mytho makes an appearance and tries to take Pique’s heart to give it to the Raven. Pique separates herself from her friends and spends her time with Mytho (with Lillie watching “I saw that! I saw that!” (s2e2) which is why I say well, because she and Pique are still together) and even what we see of Pique Alone, isn’t really her, she’s under Mytho’s spell.

Ahiru doesn’t care, yes she loves Mytho (let’s put a pin in that), but she loves Pique as well and just wants the best for everybody (even if it means giving up her own happiness) and stays out of it. She’s not coming up with ways to break them apart, her main concern is that Mytho isn’t himself and that he might hurt Pique.  
Lillie is the one watching. Lillie is the one who tells Ahiru about it. Lillie is the one who drags Ahiru to where they are so she can see for herself that Mytho is acting strange. 

Pique and Lillie, in this story, aren’t people, they’re not even characters. 

And they’re okay with that. 

They are fully okay with stepping into this role, because, and let’s be honest, unlike the others, their lives aren’t on the line, they’re perfectly okay with being Drosselmeyer’s little tools, a way for him to have a say in what’s going on without directly saying it, a puppet that won’t disobey. 

Lillie and Pique have distinct personalities, but in the show, that doesn’t matter, in the story they’re not here to have their character tested, their morale and fears put on the line, going toe to toe, which is why I think Pique was the first chosen by Mytho. 

She’s the character that explains what’s going on, so who better to explain to Tutu what Mytho is trying to do? 

To me, they’re annoying, but in stories, you do need to have characters there to explain what’s going on when someone else doesn’t understand, or to keep the main character in the action, or to give her someone to talk to so she’s not completely alone. 

Almost everything they say is just a repeated line with some words changed, or spoken in their different formats: Pique’s rougher demeanor, and Lillie’s sweet but looking for tragedy tendencies. 

And they’re hella gay. For each other. 

Anyway byyyyye.


	6. Edel

To recap last Spin Class: I stated that I believe Pique and Lillie are overly accepting of their roles as Exposition Explainers, always there when Ahiru is confused about something (got my hand back) and needs to be explained, or when they’re needed (taking the Prince and the Raven away from Ahiru so she can’t read about how insignificant Princess Tutu’s role in the original story was) acting almost like Drosselmeyer’s puppets. 

And last time in the tags I promised I’d write Edel’s analysis (because I finally finished season one!)

One thing I really like about this show is the obvious foil between Fakir and Mytho, originally supposed to be the Black Prince and the White Prince, Fakir full of negative emotion while Mytho is void of any emotion. The foil even stays in season two, as Fakir progresses into becoming a hero and protagonist, Mytho becomes a villain and antagonist. And, of course, Mytho and Fakir trade in who the love interest is. 

I love that! 

However, after my last review I was struggling to decide what to write for Edel, and then, revelation! 

Edel is a foil to Pique and Lillie. 

Pique and Lillie are two human girls, while Edel is a wooden puppet. 

Pique and Lillie are used by Drosselemyer willingly, and Edel is used by Drosselmeyer and actively acts out against him, following her feelings. 

Pique and Lillie follow their fate, while Edel defies. 

Edel is the first character in the show to actively defy her fate. “Happiness to those who accept their fate, and glory to those who defy it” (said all over the show). 

The first season, at least for the main four, is about them stepping into their roles - the second season about realizing how illy they fit those roles - but rather than accept the fact that she’s a puppet, she develops maternal feelings for Ahiru and helps Fakir step out of his role as a knight. 

There’s even a scene that shows Drosselmeyer trying to ‘fix’ Miss. Edel, in a shot that lasts a second, Drosselmeyer is replacing a cog and in the reflection, Edel is leaned over with her back open. It’s terrifying. I’ll try to find it, but I don’t remember which episode it’s in and if it’s in the first part or last part.

Even after this operation, Edel still defies her fate and gets the glory. 

And dare I say, she gets happiness as well. 

In an act of defiance, she saves Fakir from drowning and set herself aflame (or maybe she had someone else get Fakir, you can’t light wet wood) to guide the Prince and Princess out of the underground lake. She saves the story from ending there, but also saves her characters from possible death. 

In that moment she’s the hero of this story. 

And, now she’s free of Drosselmeyer. 

Free to love Ahiru, and free to make her own actions. 

Edel is more or less reborn in Uzura, not a straight reincarnation, but Uzura does hear her voice. I don’t have the quote because I am not even at Uzura yet but I still remember. 

Edel is still there with Uzura. When I get to Uzura I’ll decide if Edel is just like a lingering ghost doling out advice and wisdom or something else. I can’t decide if she’s like Kagome and Kikyo (where they share the same soul) or if they’re like Rose Quartz and Steven (mother and child) or Avatar Aang and the other Avatars (mostly separate, but still connected)… Probably that one. 

So, in convoluted conclusion, Edel is the first character in the show to defy her fate, and while that means sacrificing her life for someone she loves, she’s remembered as a hero. Introduced as a puppet, she definitely pulls her strings, and the two who are fine with their invisible strings are Pique and Lillie. 

That’s it, byyyye.


	7. Villains

Hello and Welcome to Friday Spin Class, today I will not be talking about a side character. I know, I said that Friday Spin Class was going to focus on side characters, but fuck side characters and fuck the rules, I’m an Aries! 

Anyway, today I will be talking about the Five Villains of Princess Tutu, or

The Four Villains of Princess Tutu and the one Anti-Villain, or

The Two Villains of Princess Tutu and the Three Literal Children that were Dragged into this against their Will.

Let’s get started!

First, I want to define some things. First: Anti Villain, this is obviously Fakir’s character in the first few episodes in season one. An anti-villain, as opposed to an anti-hero, is a character whose actions are good, but their motives are wrong. Whereas an anti-hero (think Deadpool) is a character whose actions are bad, but their motives are good. 

Second: the difference between hero and villain and protagonist and antagonist. This is eighth grade English so I’m not going to heavy into what these are. In a story, there is one protagonist, think the POV character, they may not be good, they may not be bad, but it’s their story we, as the audience, are following, if the POV switches, there can be multiple protagonists, but for most stories, there’s one. An antagonist is the character that works against the protagonist. This doesn’t necessarily make them a villain. In Star Wars episodes I-III, the antagonist to Anakin’s protagonist are the Jedi Counsel, even in Episode I they didn’t want Anakin to become a Jedi, so yeah antagonist. 

Oof, sorry that was a long paragraph!

Heroes and Villains are on a different scale, a hero is a person, very plainly, who saves the day, the prisoner, the pet, whatever needs to be saved, while the villain is trying to actively destroy all good things in the world. 

They’re very bad. 

The first villain/antagonist/anti-villain of the show is Fakir. 

Very specifically, Ahiru is the hero, and Fakir is the villain. 

Saucy, I know. 

The reason I saw this and not Fakir vs. Princess Tutu is that a lot of the conflict that happens in the first few episodes happens between Ahiru and Fakir, Princess Tutu often doesn’t even come out until the last few minutes, while a lot of Ahiru’s inner monologue is “Ooh, what am I gonna do about that nasty Fakir?” Fakir is Ahiru’s villain.

Fakir’s villainess can be attributed to two things: first, that he’s trying to do what’s best for Mytho even if what he’s doing isn’t good, and second, he himself is scared of what will happen if Mytho will regain his heart. 

This is what makes him an anti-villain, he’s protecting his friend. Later, we learn from Charon that Fakir is also scared of what it will mean for him if the story starts up again, it may kill him. Fakir also knows, that once Mytho has all of his heart shards the Monster Raven will be free, and he doesn’t think that’s what’s best. 

He’s seventeen… I get that, he doesn’t want his friend to have to fight his guy again and he doesn’t want to die. 

Fakir is Ahiru’s only Villain… which makes sense, Fakir is personally antagonising her, and the other Villains aren’t really thinking of her…

But Princess Tutu.

Which brings us to our next villain: Princess Kraehe. 

Princess Kraehe comes in right before Fakir starts questioning his motives, establishing herself as a Villain so that Fakir has time to think some things over and switch sides without it seeming choppy. 

Princess Kraehe is great in that she is a Villain and not just an antagonist! If anything, I wouldn’t call her an antagonist at all (yes, she is antagonizing, but that’s not what we’re here for).

Rue is also a protagonist, a slight one. Every once in a while, we’ll have a scene in her perspective, and while she doesn’t say what she’s thinking as openly and verbally as Ahiru does, we can still see in the emotions her face makes that she’s not really the main antagonist. 

More importantly, Ahiru never sees her as an antagonist. 

And neither does Rue! 

Rue, once she thinks she’s Princess Kraehe, “There is no Rue” (S1E12), only ever sees Ahiru as Princess Tutu, and this has been noticed before, however there are moments where when she thinks of Princess Tutu, she also remembers Ahiru, who she knows is only trying to be her friend. 

Rue and Ahiru are not against each other, but Princess Tutu and Princess Kraehe are. 

I could even argue that Princess Kraehe doesn’t know what’s going on and is only doing Evil Things because she’s Evil. 

When Princess Kraehe comes in, she picks up where Fakir left off - stopping Princess Tutu from collecting hearts shards, however, in season two, we learn that her father doesn’t want her to stop Princess Tutu from collecting heart shards!

Princess Kraehe doesn’t know what’s going on! She just doesn’t want the story to change! 

Princess Kraehe is also a great gateway to our real villain. 

The Monster Raven, but it’s not time for that!

Sidenote - I feel silly for not realizing this, and also since I didn’t go into watching Princess Tutu blind, I ruined this for myself, but in episode 8 Fakir asks “Are you the Raven Manifest?” 

When I first watched this (at fifteen?) I didn’t know what manifest meant, and I just assumed it meant offspring or something of the sort, and even when they tried to tell me what manifest meant (and all it’s many definitions) I was like “it’s missing a definition” because I thought manifest meant child. It wasn’t until episode seven, when Princess Kraehe leaves a black feather behind that I finally got it. 

Fakir thinks Kraehe is the Monster Raven. 

In episode seven, Fakir picks up the feather and says “So, you’ve finally decided to show yourself” and in the next episode asks Kraehe if she’s the raven manifest. Fakir thinks that this is how the Monster Raven is choosing to present itself. 

It feels great to say that, make a comment below about how obvious that was and you didn’t have to watch the show six times for it to click. 

So, before we get to the Monstrous Raven, let’s talk about the third child pulled from his bed to be thrown to the dogs for Drosselmeyer’s amusement Raven!Mytho. 

And before we get into that, I have to tell you something, this was entirely too long and so I had to cut it into pieces, that’s right you are looking at part one of three!

Thank you and I’ll see you next time


	8. Villains II & III

**I missed last week, so there’s part two and part three. That’s all the parts.**

Last week I talked primarily about Fakir and Rue, how they are villains in their own right, now we continue on with Raven!Mytho. 

Raven!Mytho is great because he’s such an obvious allusion to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde it’s ridiculous but it makes for great drama. Again his hero is Princess Tutu (I mean, Fakir and Rue know that Ahiru is Princess Tutu, but does Mytho ever find out? I mean, once she gives him the last shard she turns into a duck, does he know that that duck can turn into Ahiru or does he just think Princess Tutu was a duck and that Ahiru has nothing to do with this? Does Rue try to explain it one day and he’s like, that’s a hoot honey? Does he know?) but also Fakir, I’d say more so Fakir than Princess Tutu, even. 

Fakir is typically the one to fight him, if they do have to draw swords, and Princess Tutu only draws out the good in him. Actually, I think Princess Tutu is Raven!Mytho’s antagonist. All she ever does is stall his purpose in the story. 

Anyway

Raven!Mytho and Princess Kraehe are two villains who aren’t actually villains.

In the state the two are in at this point in the show are a direct result to the Raven’s Blood. 

Before the Raven’s blood makes a come back, Rue is very sweet and well mannered, Mytho, as far as we can see, is more or less the same, it’s still hard to judge because he hasn’t gotten all of his heart, but when these characters have Raven’s Blood in their system is when they change. 

They’re almost puppets of the Monster Raven, just committing his evil acts while he’s in feather jail. 

So, Now we can talk about the big baddie, Mr. Monster Raven himself the true Villain of the show! 

And boy is he a let down. 

As far as characters go, he’s just so one dimensional. 

He’s just a giant monster that wants to what? Exactly? What are his motives? Are they ever stated? Ever made clear? He wants Mytho’s heart, and then some girl’s heart, and then what? 

Just do evil things, I guess. Because that’s what you do when you’re evil!

Prince Siegfried is also a one dimensional character! Who the fuck is he!

What makes Raven!Mytho so interesting is that inner turmoil, he’s a prince so he must be good, but now he’s been tainted and must commit atrocities, he’s fighting so damn hard and sometimes he loses himself, at one point he loses himself completely! The Raven’s blood has completely consumed his heart and he turns into a raven and it isn’t until the heartshard of hope returns that he’s able to overcome it.

Prince Seigfried’s goal is to kill the Monster Raven and save his people, that’s very noble, that’s very good! But very broad, very boring, very one sided. 

However, that can all be attributed to the show’s main antagonist: Drosselmeyer. 

Drosselmeyer is not a Villain, and what makes this show so great is that he totally could have been. 

They didn’t need both the Monster Raven and Drosselmeyer but it did that!

After watching…

Drosselmeyer is just some guy.

Like that’s it. 

He’s not super evil, he’s not bloodthirsty, at most he has a bad god complex, but he’s just a guy. 

(Imeanhe’sprobablyapedophilebutlet’snottalkaboutthat,yeah?)

In my first Friday Spin Class, I came to the conclusion that Drosselmeyer just wants to sit back and enjoy, he sets it all up, creates a machine that will write for him, and watches for generations as Prince Siegfried fights, and fights, and fights, and fights, and fights. 

The only time he actually writes anything (as far as we can see) is when he firsts talks with Ahiru in episode two, and quite possibly, just to give his story a little something something, he ripped Ahiru from another story and put her in this one to give himself more drama and characters to watch.

Shoot, maybe he got bored of Mytho, bored of heartless!Mytho and his useless grandson and silly little baby Rue fight over whose turn it was to play with him so he added in another character just to get the ball rolling again.

And the way Drosselmeyer is set up? It’s almost like a kindly godmother granting Ahiru her wish to make the Prince smile. In the trailer, he gives her the necklace, the first episode he’s framed as creepy, but he’s not evil, in the second episode he explains the rules to her.

He’s not that bad, look at that silly hat! How silly. 

Drosselmeyer is never framed as a good guy, or hero, but throughout the show we get four villains, that’s very generous show! Thank you, show! They come in at different points, some not even lasting until the end of season one, but Drosselmeyer is here from the beginning. 

The narrator doesn’t talk about a duck who wanted to be a girl, but about a writer who was supposed to have died, Drosselmeyer is the first thing we know as an audience. 

What does that mean? Is Drosselmeyer the protagonist? 

Ew, no get out. 

Ahiru is our protagonist, she’s our hero, however Drosselmeyer isn’t her villain, isn’t even her antagonist. 

He’s Fakir’s.

For Ahiru, even though Drosselmeyer isn’t a good guy, he is her fairy godmother! He gives her the necklace! He tries to convince her that she needs to keep going and get Mytho all his heart shards! He’s rooting for her! 

But, for Fakir? 

Fakir’s main struggle in the first season is that he’s scared of his fate, he doesn’t want to die, and who gave him that fate? Drosselmeyer. 

Fakir’s main struggle in season two is that he needs to overcome his fear of writing, and come into that place where he’s a writer over a knight. And that directly puts a wench in the cog. 

Before, everything was fine! Everything was dandy! Drosselmeyer could just sit back in his seat and watch the show! 

But as soon as another writer came on the scene? 

In episode seven, Drosselmeyer goes out to talk to Ahiru, to tell her to continue writing, and as he leaves he says, “Who knows how many more times I’ll be able to use [this passageway of time]” (S1E7). He uses it twice more in the show, once again to speak with Ahiru, and then to have a word with his grandson.

This is a dangerous game he’s playing, he doesn’t know how many times he can go inside the story, any time could be his last, and yet he uses it to talk with Fakir. 

We all know the scene I’m talking about. Fakir is trying to write a story but just can’t, then Drosselmeyer comes and Fakir is able to write a story about Ahiru, only this isn’t a story he wants to write. 

Fakir writes as he forces Ahiru to walk into a lake to try and kill herself. 

Imagine if Drosselmeyer succeeded, and that was his original intent, to write through Fakir, have him create a story of ultimate tragedy, the heart shard of hope lost for forever, Rue trapped inside the stomach of the Raven and Mytho hopelessly waiting for Princess Tutu to come back. 

Then Fakir would never write again. 

Fakir, who already lost his parents because of his inexperienced writing, would forever have to live with the knowledge that he killed the girl he loved, that he failed Mytho, and was unable to save anybody. 

Fakir would never write again. 

And Drosselmeyer’s story would go on forever, never to end.

That’s terrifying. 

No, I still don’t think he’s a villain, an antagonist, definitely, but he’s not super villainous, he gave that to the four other villains this show graced us with. 

That being said, Princess Tutu gave us five villains, three children who didn’t really have a choice, one monster who is just super hungry, and one antagonist. The three children in the end get their happy ending, and get peace, the monster gets stabbed in the heart which is irony at its finest, and the antagonist walks off into the darkness, fully content to find himself another never ending story. 

Thanks for reading, bye.


	9. Romeo & Juliet I

So I was thinking about Princess Tutu, like I’m ought to do, and it came to me. As much fakir and Ahiru are Romeo and Juliet, so are Mytho and Rue.

The representation is very evident for Ahiru and Fakir, from the music that plays for their final Pas de deux, to the balcony scene in episode 8, and Echeverría their age difference. I can even talk about how Romeo and Juliet’s suicides are present - and I will. Fakir and Ahiru miss one vital piece. 

They don’t fall in love as soon as they meet. There is no love at first sight. 

That trope, however, is saved for our other main couple. 

Rue and Mytho undeniably fall in love at first sight, especially Rue, and we all know that Mytho’s shard of devotion was devoted to Rue. I know that Mytho is incapable of feeling emotions, but his heart shards know where his feelings lie. 

Additionally, they have the star crossed lovers factor. Her “father” and Mytho being enemies for a very long time, is the exact kind of forbidden love that played a key role in Shakespeare’s play. Yes, her father eventually encouraged their relationship, but only as a way to free himself and start up his battle with Mytho once more. 

Mytho and Rue get the start of Romeo and Juliet, however Fakir and Ahiru get the ending. 

Fakir and Ahiru, fortunately don’t kill themselves but oh boy is it still there. 

So, in case you were never forced to read or watch Romeo and Juliet, here’s a quick run down of the ending.

Romeo kills Juliet’s cousin, resulting in his exile, and Juliet is forced to marry Paris, no idea who that guy is. While Romeo is in exile, Juliet and the priest come up with a plan to fake Juliet’s death so she can run off with Romeo. Romeo is sent a letter explaining this, however it never reaches him. He hears the news, instead, and fears she’s actually killed herself. In utter despair, Romeo buys a vial of poison and goes to her family crypt, where she lay. He drinks the poison and dies moments before she awakens. And once she does, she follows him into death by taking a dagger to her heart.

It’s wonderfully horrible and just gut wrenching. 

Obviously, we still have that parallel of Fakir seeing Ahiru committing suicide when he writes it himself. And he’s sort of in exile, since Autor is forcing him to do all that weird “summon Drosselmeyer stuff” like ooh standing for three days or whatever. Although that’s probably a worse punishment than exile. 

But let’s focus on what Fakir does when he can’t stop his hand from writing. Ahiru walks into the water, completely ready to drown herself, and Fakir stabs his hand. 

It’s so subtle and maybe I’m reading into it too much, but it kind of sounds a lot like the ending of Romeo and Juliet. Except Ahiru takes on Romeo’s role while Fakir takes Juliet’s.

It’s not a perfect analogy but isn’t that so much better? 

The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet was that they were two kids who fell in love, but because of their parents, were forced to take desperate measures.

The tragedy of Fakir and Ahiru was that they have to live as they are. 

I said it before, I don’t believe Ahiru is a duck, I believe she is pulled from another tale and Drosselmeyer forced her into his.

Ahiru has to forever live with the knowledge that she was human, that she could dance and talk and run. She will forever wish to be human again, until she is.

And Fakir has to live with the knowledge that the person he loves is a duck. With a short life span. With the inability to speak, or dance the way she could. 

The story of the Prince and the Raven ends, which, we know from my first Friday Spin Class is not what Drosselmeyer wants, but it does end in glorious tragedy.


	10. Rue and Kreahe

Well, well, well guess who finally decided to come back.

Albeit, this was written long ago and I just never got around to posting it. Currently, it’s Monday, but I’ll post it. So you guys can have a little Friday Spin Class. As a treat.

Soap! Here we go! 

Ahiru has the tendency to judge people at face value. I can’t decide if it’s because she’s young or if it is being used as a genuine character flaw. But, just for the sake of this Friday Spin Class, lets say its the latter

The easiest example is how she views Fakir and Drosselmeyer when she first meets them. She views Fakir as a villain and Drosselmeyer as a helpful old man. That’s fair, but she still doesn’t take the time to think about  _ why  _ Fakir is so protective of Mytho, or  _ why _ Drosselmeyer is even helping her in the first place. 

Amazingly though, this isn’t about Fakir and Ahiru, I know big surprise, I’m trying to restrain myself. 

This is about our wonderful and amazing Miss. Rue and out dastardly Princess Kreahe. 

I know, that at least for me, I sometimes forget that Rue and Kreahe are the same. They’re one person. Not a split personality thing going on there either. 

Now I can hear you, but the Raven’s blood was making her evil. Blah Ba blah, whatever shut up. 

Rue is honestly the most realistic character because she has a sweet and caring face that she puts on for people she doesn’t know, and for people she does know she lets them know that she’s not afraid to slap a bitch. Exhibit A: when she meets Ahiru, someone she doesn't know well, she treats Ahiru very cordially, she obviously has good manners and knows how to be polite. Unlike Fakir, who is rude to just everyone, and we know Charon didn't raise that boy to be anything but a gentleman. Likewise, when she talks with Fakir, she cuts the crap. Honestly, they have a sibling dynamic.

I love stories, but more often than not, they have their characters being fully themselves in front of people they’ve just meet, and lets be honest, no one is ever themselves in front of someone until they’ve known them for a good long time. The sassy heroine telling people off, people she's just met, the cool and cunning hero who always has a one liner up his sleeve. That's fine, you as the reader need to know who you're reading about, but I find that people tend to be more like Rue when they first meet people rather than Fakir. Mr-That's-Why-I-said-Pointless. 

Now I’m not saying Rue isn’t a sweet and caring lady, she is. But the first interaction she has with Ahiru is very polite. Very contained. 

Think back to that episode with Anteaterina, Ahiru is trying to warn Rue that Anterarina stole her man, and Rue tells Ahiru it’s very sweet of her to try and warn her before walking off. 

Very polite, what a proper lady. 

Now let’s look a few episodes later when Rue and Ahiru have been friends for a while.

Ahiru asks Rue if she can teach Ahiru to go on pointe and Rue says why would I do that? A little offended, a little snooty, but she’s showing more of herself to Ahiru, it’s good! 

And then she tells Ahiru a story about the first person who went on pointe, Rue is keeping the conversation going, and even offering a bit of weird information that I don’t think she’d say to Ahiru if they weren’t friends. 

But let’s move on to Kreahe.

Kraehe is a villain, as we have discussed, and yes she is being poisoned by the Raven’s blood, but she still cares about Ahiru and sees her as a friend, she still loves Mytho, and wants what’s best for him, even if she’s being misguided.

Rue is somewhere in between that sweet Miss. Rue and that evil Princess Kreahe, and I think we forget that sometimes. 

But back to that Raven’s blood, I think eventually it would wear off, but remember Nature vs Nurture, ladies and gentlemen, she was raised to be Kraehe, of course she’s going to carry over those qualities even with the Raven’s blood gone. 

So I guess what I’m trying to say is Rue is That Bitch who loves and cares about her friends. 


	11. Raven Mytho

Happy Friday Friends, and welcome to Friday Spin Class. 

You have no clue how excited I am about this one, our subject of focus this time being Mytho infected with the Raven’s blood. 

Mytho walking around as a gruesome half man, half raven, all cursed being was what finally brought me around to watching the show. 

Some backstory: I found Princess Tutu by stumbling upon an AMV called Danse De Raven. I was cleaning my room listening to those curated 50+ YouTube Mixes and that song came up. It was different from the rest because the rest where all in English and this song was in French, as well as it being one of the best songs I’ve ever heard. I stopped what I was doing and looked, hoping to find the name of the song, but found the AMV and the name of it instead. So what did I do?

I watched the AMV. 

And yeah, I was heavily spoiled, I was praying to God that the name of the anime was included in the information. Needless to say, it was, I looked up what it was and watched all of it in one night. 

That was six years ago, and I’m still obsessed. Evidently. 

But what hooked him was Raven Mytho. My only thought was I don’t care how long it takes me to get to the Raven Man, I don’t care how many episodes it takes, I will watch until I get to him! And yes, I did know that Fakir would eventually be redeemed. Sometimes I wish I could go back so I could hate him properly, but whatever. 

Raven Mytho, specifically,  _ this _ Raven Mytho 

_ Ugh _

Is  _ still  _ one of my favorite aspects of the show. 

I’m working on something for Fakir and Ahiru, hopefully by next thing I’ll have everything in order. 

Part of that little project was reading  _ Romeo and Juliet.  _ It’s lovely, by the way, it’s so sweet and I found it surprisingly easy to read. 

Nonetheless, look at this line. 

“And I will make thee think thy swan a crow” (Act I, Scene II, line 89). Spoken by Benvolio to Romeo when he was grieving about his lovely Rosaline. 

Umm, hello????

I remember I read that line and I screamed! And I was so glad I was at home alone, because I would have been yelled at for yelling.

I will make thee think thy swan a crow? 

Mytho and Prince Siegfried are surrounded by swan motifs and symbolism. His name deriving from  _ Swan Lake,  _ his sword having two swans on the hilt, his hair being like ruffled swan feathers, his final Princely outfit being covered in swan feathers, Rue’s dress looking like a literal swan, I could go on, but alas I will not. 

Princess Tutu’s second Act revolves around the fact that Mytho is no longer surrounded by the imagery. 

His red eyes, his black feathered costume, disappearing and leaving nothing but a single black feather, his sword being scary and black. 

Now, not to spoil next week. But, the show is from Ahiru’s perspective, and if you haven’t put it together, Mytho is Ahiru’s Rosaline. 

I will make thee think thy swan a crow. 

Mytho’s transformation from a figurative swan to a literal crow is a focal point in the story, in Ahiru’s story. 

Last week, I made the statement that Ahiru judges at face value, while knowing nothing about the Prince, she adores him and thinks he is the definition of good. When Mytho transforms into a crow? Ahiru still sees the good in him despite what is presented to her. 

Ahiru has a very gentle character arc, but I think this is one of them, also the reason why she is able to forgive both Fakir and Rue for their transgressions. Mytho is evil, very evil! But Ahiru remembers what he was like before, that there still is good inside of him, even though he may not be definitive goodness anymore, she still sees him for what he is, rather than what he’s been doing. 

She does her best to save him from himself while still returning his heart shards. 

Anyway, back to literal raven Mytho. 

Love him, by the way. 

That is a very small line to base an entire character arc, so let me draw your attention to another piece of classic literature. 

_ The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde _ by Robert Louis Stevenson. 

Now, I have not read the book, but I know it to an extent. 

Dr. Jekyll is split in two, the good that’s inside of him, and an evil, more menacing side that he fights to keep down. In the tale, he creates a potion that is meant to subdue the evil in him, but instead it makes it worse, and that evil side manifests in Mr. Edward Hyde. A murder with a lust for blood. 

Now, Mytho doesn’t have an inner battle, but it’s after he takes the ‘potion’ that the evil manifests. 

However, the allegory is still present. An evil is still present and takes over the body to commit atrocious crimes that, on any given day, the person would never do. Like trying to steal young girls’ hearts. 

There is an adaptation of Jekyll and Hyde that is more similar to Mytho’s story, but that’s an adaptation and I won’t go too deeply into it. 

There’s also another post somewhere that speaks about how now that Mytho has the raven’s blood and he is “corrupted” he’s able to love Rue more and give her the most love instead of being that perfect fairy tale prince that loves everyone. I can’t help but agree, and while it was forced on him, is an integral part of his character arc. He realized some things. 

I love Princess Tutu and I love Raven Mytho, and I love you if you made it this far because this was a long one. 

In conclusion, wait did I have a point? 

Raven Mytho is beautiful and painful, he’s what drew me to the show, and one of my favorite elements. Going from the perfect Swan Prince to the servant of the Monster Raven is just a wonderful use of character and is one of the many reasons that makes Princess Tutu a masterpiece. 


	12. Fakir

Hello friends and welcome to the first mini Friday Spin Class. 

Well, I’ll try to keep it short. 

As we all know - or if you didn’t, you know now - Fakir is my favorite character. Why?

Simply put, he’s the most complex. Out of all the characters to write, he had to turn from the villain to the hero in twenty-six episodes. That’s tough. In addition, we see a complete change, he goes from being a controlling, abusive jerk, to a very sweet, kind and caring character. 

How is this achievable? How were we able to get to this change? A complete 180०. 

I’ll tell you, in quote form!

“The most dreadful and unattractive person only needs to be loved, and they will open up like a flower” ( _ The Grand Budapest Hotel _ ). 

“People improve when they get external love and support. How can we hold it against them when they don’t?” ( _ The Good Place). _

“The world was vivid and untouched. I felt free again - I think because I was loved” ( _ Why be Happy when you could be Normal? _ Jeanette Winterso). 

These are only three quotes, but they perfectly describe Fakir’s redemption arc - and, I believe, every good redemption arc written - he changes because he was loved. 

I am a strong advocate for Fakir-fell-in-love-with-Ahiru-first, but these made me realize that it was because Ahiru loved Fakir. 

Now I can hear you yelling. What about Charon?

Well, let’s go over Fakir’s life first.

His parents died - he considers himself their murderer - at a very young age, maybe six or eight. 

His best friend literally has no heart and can’t love him, despite being called The Prince Who Loved Everyone. 

There’s a mean little girl who is mean and keeps trying to steal his best friend. 

The only other people he had to love him in his life were Charon and Raetzel.

Now, Raetzel is up in the air because I imagine she’s way older than Fakir by six or seven years, and probably wouldn’t care about him that much, beyond an older sisterly love, but sometimes you still need more love than that of an older sister. 

Charon is present, I will give him that, but he was always infected with a heart shard. In Season ! Episode ten, we finally see how Fakir and Charon treat each other, and it’s pretty bad…

Charon almost mocks Fakir, reading between the lines, he calls Fakir a coward who can’t protect Mytho. Yikes.

Charon also tells Princess Tutu “I’ve always regretted telling Fakir the legend” before telling her how much he regrets the way he brought up Fakir, that tells us, the audience, that he’s had the heart shard of regret this entire time. That regret has made him hesitant and careful, and he has not been the loving father that Fakir needed.

In episode eight, we start to see Fakir’s confusion about what his role is and if what he’s doing is really helping Mytho - the answer is no - and it wasn’t until Ahiru that he truly started to change.

Ahiru  _ loved  _ Fakir, she outstretched her hand and once he started warming up to her kindness is when we really see him change.


	13. Romeo and Juliet II

This was meant to be written and posted last Friday!

Hello, Welcome and buckle up because we’re going for a ride!

_ Princess Tutu  _ is chock full of allegories and allusions of ballets, operas, classical music and literature, and fairy-tales,  _ Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Midsummer’s Dream, Giselle,  _ and  _ Romeo and Juliet. _

So I have talked about Romeo and Juliet before in relation to the characters of the show, to Mytho and Rue as well as Fakir and Ahiru. 

Y’all remember this, too?

And this? The staircase that are actually based on a prop from the ballet, and specifically they’re Juliet's balcony. 

And who could forget this?

The dance they perform in the lake of despair derived from the Balcony Scene and Farewell Before Parting. 

There was another post about this dance on my blog and you can read more in depth about it there. We’re not here to talk about their dance, maybe I’ll bring it in a little bit, but the specifics of the dance isn’t the topic of discussion. 

I read a post a while ago about how Ahiru fills the role of Romeo twice - once when she threw rocks at Mytho’s (and Fakir’s) window, aaaaand I don’t remember what the other one was, but there’s definitely two and someone made a post about that. 

However, I want to take it one step further and say that Ahiru takes the role of Romeo fully, not just in some situations. 

But What about Fakir? 

He takes the role of Juliet. 

So, listen. 

I’ve been reading Romeo and Juliet, and the more I read it the more I agree with this dissertation. 

Let’s go over the first, what, five minutes of the first episode? 

Ahiru tells us, the audience, that she is in love with Mytho, before Pique and Lillie break the fact (rub it in her face) that Mytho already has Rue! Leaving her heartbroken. 

How does Romeo’s story start? 

He’s heartbroken that his love for Rosalind is unrequited.

Interesting.

Also, I want to point out that Benvolio is described as a friend of and cousin to Romeo, with Mercutio being described as “...a show-off who likes to entertain others” ( _ Romeo and Juliet,  _ A word to the Reader, pg 8). Benevolio doesn’t get much description outside of his relationship with Romeo, but Benevolio, I’ve found, is a pretty constant character who generally cares about Romeo. 

And in case you haven’t already guessed, Pique and Lillie fit into the role of Benvolio and Mercutio, and they fit it pretty well. Lillie being super overdramatic (and bloodthirsty) providing a lot of humor to the scenes she’s in, and Pique is a genuine friend to Ahiru who is looking out for her, e.g. all the excuses she gives Mr. Cat so Ahiru won’t be forced to marry him. 

Another character I want to point out is Autor and Tybalt. 

Autor’s main theme is also Dance of the Knights, which (I haven’t seen the ballet) I believe is the first dance of the Capulet’s ball. A dance that Tybalt partakes in, and while I’m not familiar with music theory, I do believe that you can hear parts of the Dance of the Knights in other scenes with Tybalt. Tybalt is Juliet’s cousin, and based on Autor’s findings, he is Fakir’s cousin (twice removed or whatever). 

Princess Tutu is not an adaption of Romeo and Juliet, but a lot of the elements of the story are present here, especially where Ahiru and Fakir reside. 

Firstly, I want to talk about how Fakir is Juliet. We already have the two examples of Ahiru acting as Romeo, but what does Fakir have besides stabbing himself? 

From Juliet’s first scene, you can see she’s smart, strong, and clever; the balcony scene, Romeo oh Romeo wherefore art thou Romeo (asking why is your name Romeo, not where is he) Juliet’s speech is her excusing the fact that his name doesn’t define him, and that it’s only for his name that they can’t be together. 

Juliet finds out Romeo is a Montague, but does that turn her away from him? Does that make her love him any less? Does she turn on him? Become like her family and hate him just because of his family ties? 

No. 

Juliet is still upset, but she overcomes it.

When Fakir finds out Ahiru is really a duck he doesn’t treat her any differently or love her any less. 

Ahiru likewise is Romeo, she starts out with an unrequited love, and while she doesn’t fall in love with Fakir as instantly as Romeo does, as I said last week, she still loved him first. 

Ahiru is framed as Romeo, however in their dances and the promotional art, she takes over the role of Juliet.

Romeo runs on impulse, and is considered hot-tempered, very clearly, I can think of two situations where Ahiru gets angry and impulsive, the first when Fakir locks Mytho in the library, and the second when she first meets Autor.

Ahiru races into the scene and tries to open the locked door and almost gives herself away to Fakir. Well, she definitely does, she tells Fakir she knows what’s going on, just not who she is. But the point being is that she comes in and starts scolding Fakir before trying to open a locked door by pulling on the handle. 

The second is when Autor offers Fakir his help in drawing out and obtaining his story spinning abilities, he demands that Fakir follow his every order and then Ahiru brusts in, ready to fight on Fakir’s behalf. 

Sounds impulsive and hot-tempered to me. 

Ahiru is also our symbol of peace, especially as Princess Tutu, she doesn’t fight anyone she only asks them to dance and defends herself. But Romeo kills Tybalt. 

Ahiru never really settles around Autor, her first meeting with him isn’t great, when she goes to find Fakir, she watches him stumble and fall, and without any context accuses Autor of doing something to him, when they go to the Oak Tree grave Ahiru is concerned for Fakir and tries to go to him, but Autor grabs her and holds her back, which isn’t going to make anything better. 

Ahiru doesn’t kill Autor, but the relationship they have is still hostile and far from peaceful.

Ahiru and Fakir have a very unique story that stems from many places, but their roles as Romeo and Juliet fit them perfectly, where Drosselmeyer intended them to or not.

Now I’ve said that I don’t think Drosselmeyer was a smart man, I think he was a fool, he abused his powers and thought of this as more of a game rather than something serious, a form of entertainment. While I’m sure Drosselmeyer has seen Romeo and Juliet, I doubt he would engrain their love story in his, especially since Ahiru was supposed to proclaim her love to Mytho and disappear into a speck of light.

Personally, I don’t think Drosselmeyer doesn’t have a role in Romeo and Juliet, he doesn’t fit in as nicely as some of the other characters do, I would hardly call him Shakespeare, but perhaps a member of the audience, standing and watching the tale.

Fakir and Ahiru were never intended to be Romeo and juliet, and even when Drosselmeyer saw what was happening and used that to his advantage - trying to make Ahiru drown herself - Fakir and Ahiru still resisted their fates, and while their story doesn’t end in death, it still ends in something bittersweet, something far from a happy ending.


	14. Uzura

Wow, glad you could be here for two Friday Spin Classes, very special. 

So I want to talk about Fakir and Uzura, but primarily Fakir.

I was thinking about Uzura, because she’s so cute and tiny and Fakir is totally not her adopted dad, like not all, but then I got thinking, I was like huh it’s weird that Fakir just took Edel’s remains to ~~his dad~~ Charon, like why would he do that? 

It’s not a new thought, just one I never put much effort into considering, I just believed it was a convenient way to get Uzura into the story. 

But if we know anything about Princess Tutu, nothing is ever done without thought - or at least, nothing is done without me over-analyzing it - and it clicked. 

Yes, of course! How could I have not seen it before! And it fits so nicely with another theory I have been cooking up! 

Fakir, as we all know, acts tough and scary, but inside he’s really just scared, and lonely, and sad. 

Just, really sad. 

And at this point, still pretty conflicting with himself. 

Fakir has known Ahiru for what, a month? As far as Ahiru is concerned, and possibly longer since it seems everyone has fake memories of her.

Fakir is not cold nor unconcerned with Ahiru, he sees that she’s nervous about finding Mytho, but still trying her best, and he sees her interaction with Edel. 

“Ahiru Thank you, Edel-san, for always being so kind to us.

Edel It's not kindness.

Ahiru Huh?

Edel A puppet follows orders.

Ahiru Puppet?

Edel Yes, I am a puppet.

I have neither a heart nor feelings.

Ahiru But, Edel-san... you're always teaching me so many things...

And you're kind... So...

Edel-san, I...

Edel Because that was the role given to me.

The orders end here.

Now, please go on” (S1E12). 

I believe this is a more direct translation, and in the English Dub, Ahiru is on the verge of telling Edel she views her as a mother. 

Fakir is right fucking there, he sees and hears this whole interaction and later, when Edel is Burning Herself Alive so Fakir can get himself out of the lake and follow her warmth back out to the surface or whatever happened. He Knows how important Edel is to Ahiru, so after Tutu and Mytho finsih their fuckin pas de duex, he takes Edels REMAINS to ~~his did~~ Charon in hopes that he can do something. 

Resulting in Uzura. 

Fakir is probably disappointed that ~~his daughter~~ the little puppet doesn’t remember Ahiru, so he tells her all about the Duck turned human turned Princess. 

It’s really sweet, and of course it was always there, I just didn’t think about the implications.


End file.
